My blanket fetish continues, and it looks like I’m not the only one. In the last few years, thanks to you-know-what, there’s been a huge rise in home comfort cravings with blankets and throws, not to mention soothing scented candles and tactile cushions, all attracting our attention in the absence of the human touch.
Weighted blankets were big news, but for the more aesthetically inclined, it’s all about the rise of the art blanket and the fashion blanket. (more…)
It’s a long time since I’ve seen denim menswear treated so creatively. And it’s good timing too. The AW22 collection by CSM graduate Juntae Kim muses on denim beyond workwear, with scalloped edges, corsetry structures, buckles, lacing and artfully slashed surfaces. It chimes with the less ordinary denim treatments seen in the SS22 collections at Louis Vuitton, Schiaparelli and Loewe (which I wrote about for Harrods magazine recently). (more…)
When it comes to gift guides, I always think about the things I’d like to receive. I’m actually very easy to buy for as I’m content with socks, books and edibles. Posh edibles are my top choice as a gift as you can just buy the person the elevated version of whatever their favourite thing is. (Pierre Marcolini chocs are my faves if anyone’s wondering, with Alain Ducasse chocolate and hazelnut spread a very close second.) Tea and biscuits are a particular no-brainer. Fortnums, Liberty and Harrods are especially good for these as the packaging is just sublime and the tins are obviously reusable. Plus, a stroll through the Harrods Food Hall or Fortnum’s biscuit room is surely an essential part of the Christmas experience, right? (more…)
The joy revolution that started to emerge during the SS21 collections last September is fully showing up for SS22. The most prominent menswear shows have been the ones with a message of optimistic hedonism expressed through colour, music and a throwback to rave culture.
For example I loved Dries van Noten’s Primal Scream soundtrack serenading us through the streets of Antwerp, with the lyrics of Loaded encouraging us to “be free to do what we wanna do!” Van Noten expressed the mood of his design team as “clothes to go and have fun in. Just enjoy things. Go to the night club with silk shirts on.” The shirts were the big highlight; big in every sense, printed with artwork by Rubens and Breughel, as well as photomontages depicting Antwerp city scenes, teamed with loud sunglasses and washed silk outerwear (more…)
